


Color-coded of course !

by UrsaeMinoris



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bullying, Canon Compliant, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Friendship, Gen, In-Jokes, POV Hunk (Voltron), Siblings, Synesthesia, set during season 4 or 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 20:49:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14197425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UrsaeMinoris/pseuds/UrsaeMinoris
Summary: Matt and Pidge have inside jokes and Hunk is curious about them.--Hunk looked up from the little shower he was creating for the space mice to watch Pidge and Matt. They were working together on improving the galra finder, because that was the sort of things those two did on their down time. They had their backs on him and were talking in hushed voices.Matt whispered something, and they both giggled.“Hey !” called Hunk, “what’s with the color coding joke, anyway ?”They both turned, surprised.“What do you mean ?” asked Pidge.“You two seem to have some kind of private joke ? About color coding stuff ? You both mentioned it ?”They exchanged a look. “Oh.”Matt seemed a bit hesitant. “Pidge… ?”“It’s fine, Matt. We can talk about it.”





	Color-coded of course !

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this was dont for platonic vld week on the theme **Colour** / ~~Darkness~~  
>  It's also Pidge's birthday, and as the story revolves around Pidge and Matt, I guess this works too ! So happy birthday, Pidge !  
> Feel free to comment here or on tumblr ( <https://ursae-minoris-world.tumblr.com/> : [Color coded, of course !](https://ursae-minoris-world.tumblr.com/post/172551630793/color-coded-of-course))

Hunk looked up from the little shower he was creating for the space mice to watch Pidge and Matt. They were working together on improving the galra finder, because that was the sort of things those two did on their down time. They had their backs on him and were talking in hushed voices. Matt whispered something, and they both giggled.

 

"Hey !" called Hunk, "what’s with the color coding joke, anyway ?"

They both turned, surprised.

"What do you mean ?" asked Pidge.

"You two seem to have some kind of private joke ? About color coding stuff ? You both mentioned it ?"

They exchanged a look. "Oh."

Matt seemed a bit hesitant. "Pidge… ?"

"It’s fine, Matt. We can talk about it."

She moved to face Hunk.

" See, in middle school, I used to get bullied. The other kids made fun of me for being a nerd and stole my desert, that kind of things. "

The frown on Matt’s face when she mentioned it told enough about how angry he still was about it.

 

"People bullied… _you_ ?" Hunk had a hard time imagining Pidge being harassed. She wasn’t one to let other people step on her toes. "I bet they regretted it."

Pidge sighed.

"Actually, no. At the time, I was a lot shyer. Anyway, one day, our maths teacher called me to the board to solve an equation. A really easy one, at least for me. I was supposed to show the steps I had used to solve it, you know ?"

She paused, looking suddenly distressed.

"Hu, yeah, I see what you mean.", tried Hunk, as encouragingly as he could.

 

"… And I couldn’t do it ! Because I hadn’t used any steps, because it was just so easy ?! But no one would believe me ! Everyone was laughing and the teacher almost implied I had cheated somehow ! So I got nervous and said I had just used the color code ! People made fun of me for years because of that ! "

She was getting animated and frustrated, and Matt put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

" Hunk, have you ever heard of synesthesia ?"

" Humm, isn’t that the thing where people see sounds ?"

 

Matt nodded. "Well, it can be that. It’s when the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to an automatic associated experience in another sensory or cognitive pathway. So yeah, some people can see sounds. Or some, like us, see the letters and numbers with some specific associated colors."

Hunk tilted his head a bit while considering it.

"Oh, I think I’ve heard of that one too."

"It’s called Grapheme-color synesthesia." elaborated Pidge. "Like, A is obviously red, and six is teal blue, I is bright yellow..."

"I is pale green, in fact !" teased Matt, elbowing her. "And I’m sorry, but 0 is white. I know you like it fancy, but it is clearly white."

Pidge huffed. " If you can’t appreciate the beauty of the silver 0, that’s on you Matt. I know what I see."

 

"Wow, wow, wow ! " interrupted Hunk. "You mean, you both have it ? Isn’t it supposed to be rare ?"

"Well, yeah" admitted Matt. "But scientists also believe that the origins could be genetic, so I guess it makes sense. Our mom has a form of synesthesia too, only hers is that she sees numbers linked as a map."

"It’s called number form synesthesia", supplied Pidge. "Anyway…. At the time, I didn’t know I had it. I just assumed that everyone saw the same things as I did. So I was pretty upset when my classmates all treated me like a weirdo." She sighed. "I mean, even worse than usually."

 

There was a short silence, before Matt continued the story :

" So, when she came home and told me, I understood what the matter was. I wish I had realized earlier that she didn’t know that not everyone could see things that way."

" Well," explained Pidge " it was treated as completely normal in our family ! Matt and I even used to have a secret code where we used the colors associated with the letters and numbers. Our parents had even taken us to art supply stores, so that we could choose our color pencils one by one, because we were very specific about the colors we wanted."

" We see most letters the same colors, but not all, so we had to make compromises. Anyway, I realized I was synesthetic in middle school after talking about it with some friends, and I supposed Pidge had done the same."

" Well, the few friends I had in ground school got bored every time I mentioned maths or that sort of things and didn’t listen to me. So I thought everyone saw it, but no one was as interested in it as I was. And I stopped talking about it, except at home."

" So when she came home heartbroken about how those stupid kids laughed at her for that color-coded line, I felt like I had failed her as a big brother." added Matt solemnly.

Pidge snorted and pushed him playfully. "You idiot !"

 

Hunk tried to wait patiently until they were done shoving each other, but he ended up interrupting them anyway : "Yeeaaah. That still doesn’t really explain why you like to color-code stuff ?"

Pidge was the first one to regain her composure.

"Well, that day Matt explained to me how synesthesia was actually pretty cool and useful. I mean, I knew that already, but it was a good reminder. And he showed me all these ways it could help me ! And one of them was color coding."

"You can use colors to help you remember things, or to add a layer of information on something." explained Matt. "For instance, if I want something to be associated with the number 7, I will color it this dark shade of pink."

"Oh, so when you see colors, you see numbers, too ?"

Pidge shook her head. "No, it only works one way. But we remember which color is associated with which grapheme. So it can be used as a mnemonic technique. For instance, if I want to remember the disposition of objects in a map, it will help to use colors that I associate with numbers. And I have a good memory for numbers. Better than for random shapes anyway. I even can use colors that mean something, like hinting at the spacial coordinates. Or using the color for the first letter of what the shape is representing."

Hunk thought about it for a while. "Sooo… what happens if someone uses a color code that doesn’t match yours ?"

Pidge and Matt both grimaced.

"It’s… ugly. And sometimes confusing."

"But that’s only if you… color graphemes the wrong colors or something. If you use color coding for something else, it can help. If you give me a colored map I will still be able to use numbers and letters to help me memorize at least parts of it."

Matt nodded. "Colors just helps in general. Even without using mnemonic techniques."

 

Hunk was starting to understand, but he still felt he hadn’t the full story. "So, what about the animals ?"

They both looked confused. Hunk chuckled.

"No, I mean, you say it this way : _Color coded of course, because what are we ? Animals ?_ And I was wondering where the second part came from."

 

They were grinning now. "Oh, that ! " exclaimed Pidge. "Once, Matt was presenting scientific results for a symposium, and I was sitting in the public with Mom and Dad. At one point, he presented a color coded chart and he said that while looking straight at me ! And the color code spelled "FARTS". I completely lost it ! Everyone was looking at us !"

"It was really hard to keep a straight face ! But it was a very serious conference, so I had to !" admitted Matt, snickering. "So, yeah, it has become a little joke between us."

Hunk sighed. "Oh, wow, that sounds so cool. I wish I could learn your color code, so I could understand that kind of jokes !"

"Well, we could teach you, if you want !" offered Pidge.

"Really ?!"

"We can’t teach you _synesthesia_ , of course." admitted Pidge. "But we can tell you which color we associate with which grapheme. I mean, I had to learn that Matt sees zero just in plain boring white instead of the pretty silver it actually is !"

"You can brag, with your grey eights !" retorted Matt, ruffling her hair. They burst out laughing.

Hunk smiled. Somehow, he felt honored that they were willing to share this with him.

**Author's Note:**

> I am no expert on synesthesia and I apologize if it’s not represented accurately. I did my best to research it in the short amount of time I had to do this. If you are a synesthete or are well educated on that subject, feel free to share your input with me in the comments or on tumblr (https://ursae-minoris-world.tumblr.com/ ).  
> Of course, any other feedback is more than welcome too ! I do love comments !


End file.
